Food Cart Review: Robb’s Really Good Food

“The cart was an accident,” says Robb
Sloan. A tall, muscular man with a gentle demeanor, Sloan grew up in San
Diego and moved to Oregon two years ago to work at a nursery. (“I’m a
plant fanatic,” he says.) When he was laid off in 2009, four months
after arriving in town, he decided to develop his passion for cooking
with beer into a business, selling pulled pork and chili to brewpubs
that lack the facilities or desire to make their own. He makes custom
batches of his chilis and barbecue sauce with beer from the pubs and
drives them over for the pub to heat and serve. (You can try his pulled
pork in a sandwich at Migration Brewing; more clients are on the way.)
Sloan opened his kitchen in a cart to save money. “As a side benefit, I
get to meet all these nice people,” he says. The cart also gives us more
opportunities to eat Sloan’s excellent Pale Blond chili, a scorching
concoction of chicken, jalapeño and hominy, and his rich, Texas-style
Beefed Up, which packs a strong beery flavor underneath the chile bite.
Best of all, though, is Sloan’s sweet, chipotle-spiked pulled pork
sandwich, which we downed in four bites. The sign does not lie—it was really good.

Order this: Chipotle BBQ pork sandwich, $6.50.

Best deal: All orders come with a
sweet, chewy muffin Sloan makes by combining cornmeal with spent grains
(oats and barley) from Migration Brewing.